Kings of War - Tournament Report

Last weekend was the club's inaugural Kings of War tournament, which considering it was essentially a intra-club affair boasted a healthy 10 players.

I'd brought a slightly improved version of my Human army, featuring three units of Pike, three of bows, some heavy cavalry, some horse archers, a few Ogres and a couple of characters.  I was reasonably confident as this army had shown itself very adept so far.

My first game was against Paul, who fielded an eccentric Dwarven/Pygmy force.

It was obvious to me that he hadn't player many games yet, as he came on to me all to willingly, allowing me to use my significant advantage in unit numbers to nullify his individual hitting power; one of the keys to the game!

The terrain funnelled his attackers towards my units allowing me to deal with them one at a time with overwhelming force.

In the end it was a swift, and comprehensive annihilation of the Dwarven force.  On my last turn there was only his mechanical behemoth left, and when I was able to charge it with four units (totalling 86 attack dice) Paul conceded he wouldn't be getting a last turn!

So it was an easy and emphatic winning the first game.  But the draw for the second round upped the stakes significantly.  I was to face Mark's Elves; an army entirely formed of bow armed infantry.

The scenario was pillage, which meant only holding objectives mattered, and this looked to offer a glimmer of hope, but if too many Elves were left they would simply mop me up, so I would have to beging with an all out attack.

To that end my pike bravely marched into the hail of fire, hundreds of arrows slicing through their units.

Only one unit of pike made it to the enemy, and themselves only destroyed one unit before succumbing to horrendous losses.  But they had bought time for my wizard to seize a second objective; and for my flank attacking cavalry and ogres to fall upon the enemy; who proved as brittle in combat as at range they were supreme.

I realised the game was within my grasp.

And so it ended.  Having lost most of his army, Mark found he could only contest two objectives, whilst my caution in stationing an outclassed crossbow unit on one objective to my rear, and the wizard on another at the farm, meant I could claim two outright.

I'd won my second game, and perhaps inflicted a first defeat on the Elves.

But the final draw would prove the real grudge match.

Elsewhere a new attendee at the club, Richard was getting to grips with Andy's undead, and with so many players, most of the armies from the rules were represented somewhere, though on the day I think there were three human forces...

And so to the final round, and it would turn out the decider.  Myself and Darren were ahead, and were facing one another, the winner would claim victory, the loser second.  Over a battlefield with a lot of difficult terrain, and with both of us as wise old heads who would not fall for obvious tricks, a cagey battle would be fought.

One I forgot to photograph!  However in essence the Orcs decided to hold back again and made the Humans do all the running.  The combats were largely inconclusive until the last couple of turns, when the Orcs had done enough damage to deserve a victory.

So Darren was the winner on the day, whilst I shared second with Mark and Andy.  Everyone got three games within a space of four hours or so, and with the success of this event behind us, the intention is to repeat with wider promotion in January 2012.

This represents my best ever performance in a tournament, and the least stressful one to boot.  Huzzah for that.  What a nice set of rules!